Samuel Chase and the Dark Knights of the Apocalyse
by generalmeldor
Summary: This is the story of a teenage megalomaniac and his quest to fully eliminate the entire human race.  It recounts the tale of the rise of a monster, of knights and renegades, and of Operation Apocalypse.  "It's death or victory!"
1. Chapter 0: The Story of Samuel Chase

Samuel Chase and the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse Chapter Zero: The Story of Samuel Chase

The world is in ruins. There are no recognizable buildings as I look out from my window. There are no sounds except those of the faint radio waves from the last remains of the communication satellites. Those reports estimate the surviving number of humans at about one hundred million, but I am alone in this city.

The destruction that I am describing was not a natural occurrence; this was brought to us by one man, and his diabolical plan to destroy the entire human race.

The city I am hiding in is silent except for the occasional gas tank explosion or structural collapse. I am safe though, I am here on my own wishes. I am reflecting on what my world has become. I served my world. I came into direct contact with this diabolical monster.

His name was Samuel Chase, and I wish to tell the story of him and his Dark Knights of the Apocalypse. It took a long time to form the words, but I finally have the right words to tell my story:

The year was 2300 A.D. The world is not only at war with itself, but with new species discovered, the universe. Shots are being fired and people are killed everywhere and everyday.

Two hundred years earlier, the world has divided itself into two empires, the Northern Order and the Southern Alliance. Each also had constant attempts of assassinations on their rulers from within their own empires.

Eventually after many years of fighting, they found that their common enemy was not on Earth, but it was in space. The two rulers decided to form a new world order, the United World Empire (UWE). Their army was massive and justly titled the United World Armed Forces (UWAF). They had planes and bombers that could fly in space and planetary environments. Their vehicles were capable of crushing enemy soldiers and crushing opposition with ease. Their soldiers were trained heavily and showed no fear when enemy planets attacked.

The UWE was ruled under a diarchy, or with two rulers, until one was assassinated by another human. The shot was found to have been shot from a military genius, one who could penetrate their security. Therefore, in response to this, the solo ruler enacted a law in which individuals must have their intelligence levels measured. If they were too high, they were imprisoned for life, no questions asked.

Samuel Chase was a different story, however. He was born during this time of war to Rebecca and Morgan Chase, who were concerned with his intelligence. At two weeks, he could walk easily and at six months, he was playing video poker like a pro. Then the time came for him to be measured. His parents brought him to the government facility and a young nurse brought them back to the machine. "Alright," she said picking up Samuel and placing him on the machine, "Let's get this over with." Two marine guards stood with guns at the ready.

The machine started as normal and she read off the numbers, "100, 200, 300, 350, 400!" she said shocked as the level began rising exponentially. She backed up just before the machine exploded, the baby in her arms.

The marines immediately seized the child as Rebecca cried, "We must tell the ruler." One said as his parents followed.

In the ruler's palace, hidden underground, the marines presented the child. "Sir, this child has the highest IQ of any organism in the world!"

"How much?" the ruler asked in shock.

"It was about 875 before the machine exploded." He said.

"This child must be disposed of." The ruler said ordering a rocket pod by keypad access in his throne room. A rocket was soon deployed and Samuel's parents were held back with horror on their faces. "This child will either die or be found." He said quietly and placed him inside. Samuel cried as it lifted off and exited the atmosphere.

Little Samuel Chase looked out a port window in the rocket and saw two sleek, purple ships shoot out from nowhere and disappear just as quickly. He would never forget those ships.

"What is the status of the super station?" an officer asked Admiral Franz Denari on the Imperial Star Destroyer Temptation.

"Going as according to plan." He said looking outside as a missile like object appeared on screen.

The emperor was on the ship at this time and saw the same object. "Bring me that rocket." He said.

"Right away Emperor." Denari said as two Tie Fighters went out and collected the rocket.

They brought it back and the Emperor opened the compartment and pulled out Samuel.

He handed him off to Denari and said, "Take good care of him, I sense the force in him."

"Yes my emperor." Denari said.


	2. Chapter 1: The Galactic Empire

Samuel Chase and the Galactic Empire

"Your training is going very well." The emperor said as he looked at his ten year old apprentice.

"Thank you my master." He said.

"I think it is time to go to Ilum to retrieve a crystal for your lightsaber. I feel that a special dark crystal is needed for a sith knight of your prowess and skill of the dark side of the force." He said.

"I know how strong I am, and soon I shall be more powerful than any one Jedi could be. They will all fall to my power. And someday, this empire shall be mine!" He said smirking, the darkness fueling him.

"Let us go to Ilum to build your lightsaber." The emperor said as he took his apprentice to the hanger and then onto his personal drop ship. After a while they reached Ilum and he said; "Now my apprentice, we must go far into the caves to find your crystal, a legendary crystal that will amplify your potential."

"Yes, my master." He said walking beside him.

After another while, they came upon the crystals and they shimmered with all sorts of colors like green and red and blue. But one crystal did not shine and the emperor gestured him to take it. "Take this crystal and build a legendary weapon, the Black Lightsaber. Your power will be unimaginable." He said.

Samuel picked up the crystal and immediately felt energized by the mere touch of it. If minimum contact was needed for power, he knew a lightsaber would be devastating. They got back into the drop ship and flew back to the newly constructed Death Star.

For ten years, this structure had been his home and he hoped it would stay that way. He was given supplies and he built his weapon and smiled in awe at the black light that it produced when activated.

The emperor smiled and said, "I now promote you to a Sith Knight. Rise, Darth Meldor."

For the next nine years he trained as a Sith Knight, going on missions and doing other important tasks for the Empire. He was muscular at this point because of the crates he lifted with and without the force. The emperor was resting in his throne room when nineteen year old Samuel Chase dashed up and pointed his lightsaber at the sleeping emperor. He had easily slipped past the guards. He drew his lightsaber and killed the emperor and said, "Remember when I said this empire would be mine? I was not lying."

The storm troopers tried to rush him. He was surrounded in seconds. The main trooper said to the others, "Show no mercy." They fired and Samuel leapt up and watched as the rounds shot other storm troopers. Half were dead after one assault. They quickly knew that this would not end well. They continued to attack until legion upon legion was killed. Generals Roberts, Demay, and Nardini entered, they were the last living souls on the star destroyer. They pointed their pistols at him.

"Put your weapons down or prepare to join your brethren."

Knowing that they had no choice, they placed their weapons on the ground and Samuel pushed them away with the force. "What do you want?" General Roberts asked nervously.

"Something very simple, control of the Galactic Empire, I know I can get what I want because you are the last generals of the guard and Denari is dead." He said holding his saber in one hand and the other ready to choke him.

"Very well, the Empire is yours." He said as Samuel moved back to the throne. They left to announce the news to the rest of the Empire.

He smiled and said to himself, "I am nineteen years old and I have my own army, but I am not stopping now, I awoke today as Samuel Chase and tomorrow, I will awaken as General Meldor."

A week later, General Meldor was on the ISD Temptation, renamed the Galgarroth, as General Roberts, the Commander of the Air Force of the Galactic Empire found him and said, "Sir, we have found a wormhole and time travel is possible."

"Set a course and jump." He said as he nodded and went off to the navigator.

General Meldor walked over to the mass communication radio and made an announcement, "I would like to declare that I am renaming my Galactic Empire. We will now be known as the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse." He smiled as he heard the commanders cheering for the new decision. After the cheering died down he said, "Alpha through Gamma Battalions, move to my position and prepare for a hyperspace jump." After those words, his ship jumped and went back in time to an unknown place.


	3. Chapter 2: The CIS

Samuel Chase and the CIS

General Meldor strapped himself into his throne room chair as the star destroyer entered the wormhole, soon followed by the ships he called for right before the jump.

After some time in the wormhole, they were stopped just as fast as when they entered. They were near a fiery planet; this would be soon known as Mustafar.

The other battalions followed except for E through G Battalions. "Where are my ships?" he asked sounding displeased.

"Sir, they seem to have been sent down a different trajectory, but in the same area, they are ten parsecs that way." An officer said pointing.

"Call them and send our coordinates. I'm going to the surface with my guards." He said walking off the bridge to his personal TIE Interceptor.

Twenty Dark Troopers, known for their strength and dark armor, were General Meldor's personal guards. They had jetpacks and plasma shell assault rifles that shot bolts of plasma. They filed into the back of the white, tri-winged Lambda class shuttle craft. The two officers piloting the craft said over the communication link, "Sir, we will follow your fighter to the planet surface."

"Excellent." He said as he started the engine of his dual, pointed winged interceptor. He took off for the planet and the shuttle craft followed. They entered the atmosphere and he saw lava and a structure that resembled a factory. He communicated to the shuttle to land on the platform he was flying to.

When they landed, there was nothing on the platform and the inhabitants were unaware as well. He jumped out of his fighter wearing his standard sith robes and walked over to the shuttle. The dark troopers departed and he sent a communication to the officers, "Stay in orbit until you receive my signal."

"Yes sir." They said before taking off for the Galgarroth. He and the dark troopers were now alone on the planet.

"Let's go into this factory structure." He said as he entered the structure followed by his dark troopers. They reached the control room and he began to hack the terminals and found coordinates for the other factories on other planets. "This is a droid factory." He said to his troopers.

"Sir, I hear movement." One of the dark troopers said as he pointed the direction. There were mechanical footsteps, like droids marching in a platoon formation.

"Stand still and ready your rifles." He said pulling out his lightsaber, but not turning it on.

The skeletal like droids entered the room and the commander said in a slightly high voice, "Clones and a Jedi fire!" The droids attacked and he activated his lightsaber and charged.

The droids were quickly dispatched with no casualties on his side. Alarms soon went off and they were surrounded by large blue droids with cannons and wheel droids with shields. "Guards, float up and grab hold of the ceiling!" he yelled as the obeyed.

He made sure they were secure and heard a droid say, "Surrender."

"Not going to happen." He said leaning forward and drew the power of the Dark Side and was surrounded by a sphere which exploded out horizontally in all directions. All the droids flew back into the walls and exploded.

"What do you call that?" A low voice said.

"Force Maelstrom." He said as an old man with brown robes entered the room followed by a droid with four arms and a walking amphibian like creature. "Who are you?" he asked as his troopers landed on the ground from the ceiling.

"I am Count Dooku, to my left is General Grievous and to my right is Nute Gunray." The old man said.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You are on Mustafar, battle droid factory and base of command for the droid army." Dooku said.

"An army, surrender it to me, or die!" he said drawing his saber. His dark troopers pointed their guns at them.

Dooku drew his bent lightsaber and said, "A duel to the death is what you want, it is what you shall receive." He said charging.

Meldor ran at him and threw a terminal at him and caused him to fall. He pulled Dooku's lightsaber into his grasp. He smirked and sent a double bolt of lightning into him causing Dooku to say, "I surrender."

"That is what I thought." Meldor said as he smirked, "I will spare your life if you do one thing, give me total control over your droid army and other aspects of power of your empire."

"Yes, I will give the CIS to you." Dooku said knowing he would die by Meldor's black lightsaber.

"Excellent, your positions of power will remain the same, but two things will change, your insignia will be of the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse and any orders for attack or war must go through me." He said handing Dooku his lightsaber back.

"We will not fail you." He said as the news spread throughout the CIS and the changes began to take place.

A few weeks of control later he said to his Generals and other figures of power below him, "Alright, the wormhole has opened again and I do not know where it will take us and when we will return. These are my orders: As usual A through G company will go with us, but cruisers only, no capital ships. I also want Droid control ships and capital ships to surround the Death Star. Rebel intelligence has said that the plans were stolen. These orders will be carried out or severe consequences will be dealt out. Take your seats." He turned to the communication link and gave the same orders and sat down in his throne. He strapped himself in and the ships jumped into the wormhole. Where they were going was a mystery to him, but he would make sure they fell to their knees and come under his control.


	4. Chapter 3: The Covenant

Samuel Chase and the Covenant

"What is our status?" General Meldor said as the Galgarroth lurched to a halt suddenly. There was a problem in the wormhole.

"Engines are normal, and F and G companies are lost in the warp." A navigator said.

"Damn it." Meldor said as he stood up and looked out at empty space and then a large ship, not one of his own, appeared from a rift. "That ship is advanced, what year are we in?" he asked.

"We are in the year 2552, this ye-." Officer Demay said as he walked onto the bridge and was interrupted.

A communication came through, "Sir, we and G Company are exiting the wormhole. We are back with the rest of the fleet." The commander of F Company said.

"Okay, just stay there then." Meldor said ending the communication. Looking out the bridge windows, he then saw a large fleet of sleek, purple ships appear just as the human ship did. "I've seen those before, do not fire upon them yet, but that single human ship must be taken out, if it crashes on that planet, salvage it." He said.

On the Covenant cruiser called the Truth and Reconciliation, one of the purple cruisers that Meldor saw; a gold armored elite that was on the bridge looked out and almost fell backwards. "Sir, we have another fleet out there to our port side." He said to the white armored elite next to him.

"They are human!" The white elite yelled and he ran to the intercom and said, "All ships turn and fire on the port side and destroy the fleet, we will out gun whoever they are!"

Back on the Galgarroth, the alarmed navigator said, "Sir, the fleet is turning to fire on our position!"

Meldor smirked, "Perfect time to test out the new computer AI program I created." He said putting a small disk in a terminal. "Awaken Morry." He said smiling.

"Why, hello there master." Said Morry with a British accent, he looked like a paladin from a medieval legend. "Are those ships causing you some trouble?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes, but also, who are they?" Meldor said.

"I'll fire on all ships at once. To answer your question, they call themselves the Covenant. They are an alien race that believe that the death of the human race is the will of their gods." He said fading into the terminal.

"Fire EMP missiles, cripple them, and board them with the droids. They would be valuable soldiers for our army, and then we can attack Earth." Meldor said.

"As you wish, my lord." Morry said sarcastically over the speakers on the bridge. Then four EMP rockets went out and hit the Truth and Reconciliation. They deflected off the shielding.

Back on the Truth and Reconciliation, the elite captain said, "Ha, did the foolish humans think that EMP rockets could stop us?" The other elites laughed, but soon stopped once they noticed that their power went out. The EMP rockets portrayed a failed hit, but really worked. Just as quickly, the other ships in the fleet became disabled and the lucky ones fled. "We have no choice, the ship is damaged, land on the ring world." He said.

Meldor watched as both ships, went for the ring, he said, "I want A through C Droid Battalions on the human ship and I want D and E Battalions to defend the fleet. I'm leading the attack. General Demay, you are in charge until I return." He took the disk containing Morry out of the terminal, stowed it in a small slot in his lightsaber, and went off to prepare to attack.

He went into the hanger bay, after putting on his battle armor under his sith robes and his personal shield generator. He laced up his black combat boots and clipped his lightsaber to his side. He sat down in his interceptor and exited the hanger bay while Lambda Transports flew out of the other hanger bays like a swarm of locusts. "Alright, follow me." He said sending his signal out to the gunships.

"Roger, roger." The droids said acknowledging his orders. They followed in formation.

He looked around and noticed that the men on the ship were escaping in escape pod-like crafts and that the aliens were latching their boarding craft onto the ports. He thought for a second and said to his army, "The four transports closest to me, follow me, the rest of you, try to latch on to their escape pod ports and board from there, then break off and move back to the fleet. And remember to leave no one alive, human or alien." He said as he and his four transports landed in a hanger bay.

He got out of his interceptor and heard the sounds of a battle going on, but none of his droids were fighting yet.

His gunships unloaded his troops and took off to join the fleet. "They still use wheeled transportation?" he asked himself aloud with sarcasm looking at a Warthog Light Recon Vehicle.

His band of eighty battle droids and super battle droids followed as he walked; their guns at the ready. He activated his lightsaber and charged at a band of marines, which turned to fire upon him. Their assault rifle rounds pinged off his lightsaber, but were not deflected back.

"We have more enemies, and they are not Covenant, one is a human, need rein-", one of the marines said to the bridge before being killed.

He moved on with his droids and began hearing the familiar sounds of metal touching a metal floor and battle droid blaster fire. Entering a cafeteria, he saw more marines fighting against the aliens. Alien reinforcements entered and began firing their weapons at him. His droids fought back and as his battle droids went down, their metal, skeleton bodies began to erode. "Plasma." He said as he ran at the aliens, throwing tables and chairs at them, knocking out some short ones that died with a high pitched cry and spilling their blue blood along the metal floor. He was soon surrounded by the large and small aliens. They were called elites and grunts respectively by their leaders.

"Surrender human." The elite in charge said knowing that this one was powerful, "You are outnumbered."

"But not outgunned!" he said as he repulsed the aliens into the wall killing the small ones and stunning the large ones. This power was just like maelstrom, just not as powerful. Wheel-shaped Destroyer Droids soon entered and fired upon the surviving elites. They were dead in seconds. As aliens began to enter, they turned and fled. Some escaped, but the majority of them fell to the ground from a hail of blaster fire. It began to look like the Covenant would be losing their prize. The room became eerily quiet.

During this time, Maria Engata, a nineteen year old, female marine, was hiding behind a vending machine and was amazed that nobody had found her. She had a good view of the entire fight and she had felt the shockwave of the repulse attack. When the room became silent, she felt like she could think again. "Who is he?" she asked herself as the robotic soldiers left the room without finding her. "He is my age, I know it, but how does he have that much power and why is he killing our soldiers and the Covenant?" She did not know how, but she felt a sort of attraction to him. Her only reason was that he would be some sort of replacement for her engagement that failed.

Meldor received a message from one of his battle droid commanders which almost made him jump. "Sir, we have found the bridge and their crew members have escaped to the space ring and the ship is being piloted to crash land on the space ring!"

"Wait there, I'm coming to take the ship over!" he said. Within moments, he had arrived on the bridge; a few human bodies were strewn across the ground and in their chairs. He took out Morry's disk from his lightsaber and placed it in a terminal. In a few seconds, Morry popped up on the terminal. "Bring the ship down on the ring world and send our coordinates to the Galgarroth. I also want the Galgarroth to be in the orbit of this space ring." He said to Morry, who nodded and took over the ship.

After what seemed like hours, the ship entered the atmosphere and began its descent. He grabbed onto the side railing as the ship began to slow down rapidly. He knew his droids were in danger and decided to use the force. He concentrated hard and he immediately began moving the ship from descent to an almost full stop. He focused his energy more and dropped the ship on a barren, deserted plateau. The transport craft began coming immediately. "Droids, begin to pack crates, the transports are coming." He said picking up an assault rifle from a dead marine and fired a burst into the floor. He liked the low, intimidating rumbling sound that it made.

The droids began stripping the marines and aliens of their weapons until one of the droids said, "Sir, enemy reinforcements are coming to the ship, and they have tanks! They are attacking from all sides. They're trying to flank us!"

Almost alarmed, he said, "Alright." He shifted to the terminal and sent a communication to the Galgarroth, "Sent down the fighters, AATs, and the Dark Trooper Battalions A through E companies, on the double, we need reinforcements!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the battle droid commander on the bridge said as he made the announcement to the rest of the ship. The required battalions were loaded onto the transports and sent down, they were there in time, the battle was about to begin.

Back on the ship, the Covenant soldiers had just stormed it and ran throughout trying to find the human that had eluded them too well. "The human cannot be too far away, I can smell him." A red armored elite said as his squad of grunts walked nervously, looking at the bodies of their fallen comrades. The elite got to the bridge just as the dark troopers arrived and hovered onto the bridge through the broken windows. The elite turned his plasma rifle on one of them, but was killed before he could fire a single shot. Purple blood stained the wall.

"They are here sir." The dark trooper said.

"Go through out the ship and kill them all, protect the droid scavengers, and then leave the bodies. We will deal with them later." General Meldor said looking out at the endless desert.

"As you wish sir." The same dark trooper said as they went out to gun down the aliens. The other transports arrived within moments to different parts of the ship. The AATs began to destroy their ghosts and wraiths, while the vulture droids blew up the banshees.

General Meldor turned back around and continued watching the desert until the reports from the battalion commanders that the Covenant army was destroyed. "Commanders, return to the Galgarroth, but be prepared for redeployment." He said. He then went to the hanger bay and took off in his interceptor to explore the space ring.

Flying over a mountain-like region, he saw escape pods of the humans. Out of the pods, soldiers began to emerge. They looked up and saw him, and wondered what that craft was. They could not wonder for long, because General Meldor killed them all. He landed near their bodies and took as many guns as he could into his ship and flew off. He especially liked the sniper rifle.

The night came and Meldor began to clean the crashed cruiser out and to kill off humans and aliens, until Morry told him some news that was unexpected. "This ring is what the Covenant call 'Halo'. And I also have some bad news, the Galgarroth was shot down about an hour ago." He began.

"Those fiends dared to tempt my wrath. I can see whythey call it Halo, anything else?" Meldor asked.

"Yes," Morry said, "They are trying to find the control room of this ring in order to light the trail to the Great Journey, their afterlife of sorts. This ring is a powerful weapon. It works just like our Death Star laser, but this thing leaves planets as lifeless husks. Also, do not worry, everyone on board survived, we just lost about half of the droids and a few hundred fighters."

"Do you have the coordinates?" He asked as his eyes widened.

"Yes." He said turning to memorize them, "Done."

"Excellent, we go tomorrow." Meldor said and returned to the Galgarroth, which now had a giant hole through the near center. He went to his quarters for the night. He decided to sleep in and that is when the Master Chief and his AI got into the control room and the system.

Meldor awoke that afternoon and retrieved Morry. He got in his ship and went to the coordinates. He was disturbed by the sight, all the enemies were dead. He went into the control room and greeted the AI by inserting Morry.

Cortana, the other AI, felt a presence in the room, "Oh, you're back alrea- Wait, you're not the Master Chief!" she said as Morry's image came up behind her.

"Morry, purge the AI!" he said as Morry nodded and quickly took out his target. The disk ejected itself from the terminal and landed on the ground. He walked over and crushed it with his left foot. Looking to the side, he saw two dead elites with bluish-gray armor that had a device at his side. He picked it up and pushed a button on the top and it began to glow blue. He then turned invisible.

"So that is how their elites cloak themselves." Morry said as he witnessed Meldor disappear.

"You know this how?" He asked as he pressed the button again to reappear.

"I hacked their communications and have been monitoring them. This station has a phenomenal signal! I also find it funny that I can still see you while you are cloaked." Morry said, "Also, this Master Chief is, in my words, the only successful human super soldier to ever exist."

"So, taking him out would weaken the human morale." He said smirking. "Morry, hide in the system, we will set a trap for this super soldier, he may be strong, but he will not survive a stab from my blade." He pressed the button once more and cloaked himself once more.

Sometime later, the Master Chief warped in with a floating orb. He walked up to the silent terminal and saw Cortana's crushed disk on the ground, "Who's here?" he asked the air loudly.

Morry appeared on screen and smiled mockingly as Meldor snuck up behind him and activated his lightsaber and assassinated the Master Chief, to make sure he was dead, Meldor decapitated him. He picked up a green key-like object from his corpse.

The floating orb hovered next to his face and said, "Are you a reclaimer?"

"No, but what are you?", he asked the orb puzzled.

"I am 343 Guilty Spark and I am here to activate the ring with the index." It said as its cronies showed up with their beams already firing at him.

He rolled to the side and threw back his cloak and revealed an arsenal attached to his body. Taking a blaster rifle, he shot down every sentinel while taking minor injuries to his arms.

Guilty Spark looked around and when it looked back to the center, it was staring down the barrel of a gun. Its "eye" turned dark as it fell to the ground with a thud.

He stood up as two elites entered the room and stared at him, "You killed our orac—" as it began choking.

The other elite could only stare as he watched this human's immense power.

General Meldor loosened his grip and the elite breathed again. It drew its sword and charged at him, even though the other held its ally back. He extended his fingertips and fired bolts of electricity at the charging elite, bringing it to the ground in immense pain.

With anger in his voice, he said, "Take me to your leader!"

The two elites, with a rare feeling of fear in their hearts, nodded slowly as they announced their need for a transport.

They arrived in the hanger bay of a large cruiser, the Ascending Justice. When they got off the transport, General Meldor fell to the ground as a large, gorilla-like creature knocked him unconscious with a clenched fist.

When he awoke, his hands were bound with shackles and he was being dragged out to a large open chamber while three strange creatures in hovering chairs began to look at him.

With fire in his eyes, he conjured up the strength to break the shackles and clenched his fists. Using his powers, he pulled two red plasma rifles into his hands and shot the two large creatures dead. As the other elites stood up, he said, "Try me."

The elite all drew their swords and jumped down to fight him, but none survived. He picked up an energy sword and walked up to one of the strange creatures, and held the blade to its throat. "Now, surrender you army to me, or pray to your foolish gods as you bleed to death!"

"Never!", the center one said as it warped away.

"I know you want the humans dead, that is a goal of mine as well. You want to go to Earth, I can lead you there."

"And if we still refuse?" the left one asked.

"You will join your brethren on the floor and drown in your own blood." He said as he raised his hand up.

"What are your demands?" The central one asked.

"I want supreme control of your empire. You will not lose your positions of power, because only two things will change. First, all declarations of war and other forms of combat will only occur if I allow it, and secondly, you will not be known as the Covenant any more, but you will be integrated into the ranks of the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse." He said as the central one nodded, but not through its own will.

"We will finish our plan, and hopefully attack earth in one week. We will enter a wormhole and go back to 2319 and then, we will kill the humans." He said as he walked out of the chamber.

Within minutes, the entire Covenant learned that they were now aligned under the command of a human, but the fact that they shared objectives was still confusing to them.

He stood in a small room above the bridge of the Galgarroth as he stared out into the night sky. Two of his officers walked in with a female prisoner of war. "Sir, we found her hiding in the human ship."

He turned to them and said, "Good, spare her life, I need a woman to help me repopulate Earth as soon as the humans are killed off." They nodded and dragged her off to the prison chamber.

He turned back around and watched the stars in the sky and wondered what his life would have been like if he grew up with his parents.

Morry appeared on a nearby terminal and said, "You know, that cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation would make a good replacement for the current Galgarroth."

Meldor turned to him and said, "That would be good, if you can have it fixed up for integration in a few days, we can start attacking Earth.

Morry disappeared into the terminal as Meldor turned back around and smiled.


	5. Chapter 4: The Concept of a Genocide

Chapter IV: The Concept of a Genocide

Samuel Chase stood in on the bridge of the newly reformed Galgarroth. He sipped a glass of red wine as Morry appeared at a terminal beside him. "What plans do we have for tonight?" he asked.

"Well general, tonight, we have the appointing of the new generals and you have to come up with a solution for that prisoner that we found." Morry said.

"Well, the evening is in a couple hours. So, I will be dealing with the prisoner tomorrow." Meldor said as he finished off his glass.

The evening came and the ceremony was prepared, he stood at the podium at the end of the chamber as the eight generals walked in. "I wish to announce that these eight generals will be the new sub-commanders of the Dark Fleet. These men have proven themselves to be capable of their positions and I present them to you all now. Issac Bledimir, Garet Crandoros, Felix Skellos, Vlad Vortemir, Arthur Deathiel, Ramses Darkov, Brandon Meduso, and Joshua Grosh." They all stood up and received their brass and the ceremony ended without any problems.

...

"They have been in there for days, what do you think they are discussing?" One guard said to another as they stood outside the door, their shift had just begun.

"I don't know, but the General was very clear that they were not to be disturbed." The other said.

It would take another twelve hours, but after nearly four days in the main conference room of the Galgarroth, the generals and commanders exited the room. "Send word out to the fleet, I want every soldier in the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse to hear the words of their leader, I will be speaking when all communications are ready." Meldor said as the two guards nodded and walked off.

Within the hour, Meldor was standing at the podium that he had stood at several days before. He then began the speech that would define his wishes, his wishes for revenge:

"I, Samuel Chase, Commander of the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse, bring a message of the future goals of the DKA, a genocide, an operation that will fully eradicate the human race. I present to you all 'Operation Apocalypse'.

Operation Apocalypse will be a four part military invasion of Earth with speed and aggression, as we have planned, the human race will parish within one month. Preparations are still being made, and will take about six months to accomplish, but do not let the length of preparation anger you, all your efforts will be well worth it.

Now, onto the actual methods of operation:

Part One is called Operation Blast Cap. Blast Cap is nothing more than a diversion as we unload all troops and military vehicles onto the surface. We will be sending a regiment of shock troopers to assault every capital of every nation at the same time. You will be kept safe within stealth bombers that will be outfitted with parts from the transports. All shock troopers will be members of a branch of Special Operations, but the title of this branch is still classified. The rest of the soldiers will need to be ready for deployment at a second's notice. Once all of the soldiers are on the ground, part two can begin. One more thing before I move on, we will be landing in Antarctica, so every piece of body armor will receive a miniature heating device that can be shut down when we begin part two.

Part Two is called Operation Shootout. This operation is very self-explanatory. We will divide the various battalions into groups and we will make a sweeping charge north through the world and up to the northern edge of the world. Any human or city or animal in your way shall be destroyed. Naturally, the humans are going to hide in underground shelters that they call "bunkers" or "vaults". Part of the reason that we are delaying the operation for six months is because our droid spies are tunneling under the surface to find the locations of these bunkers. I know we will not find them all, but we will find as many as we can. Some of you will be taking these tunnels to destroy the bunkers before they are occupied. When this is done, we will begin part three of Operation Apocalypse.

Operation Fallout will commence after Shootout, but first a little explanation. Around the year 2137, Earth found a radioactive substance called Uranium in the asteroid belt around their galaxy. By 2180, they ran out of their natural fuels and began working strictly with Uranium. Almost every power plant that they have is nuclear, powder kegs for our purposes. Another thing to note is that they have an artificial atmosphere. Around 2214, the natural atmosphere of Earth became so damaged that their meteorologists predicted that they had a decade of air left. Their atmosphere works much like their old one, except the only thing that escapes is solar radiation and UV rays, but nuclear radiation has the ability to escape, but commonly cannot reach the upper areas. So what we are proposing is to bomb each nuclear plant and to essentially carpet bomb the Earth with nuclear missiles and plasma weaponry. We are technically going to partially glass the Earth.

There will be a few lucky survivors, however, they will fall to the last stage of our operation. Operation Nightmare will consist of some outfitted warships with solar panels, they will move at the speed of the Earth. With this speed being maintained, the Earth will be starved of sunlight and all plant life will die. We are going to keep this up for about a month, which will be enough to kill off the plants while being combined with a nuclear winter.

This concludes the specific details regarding Operation Apocalypse. Everyone begin preparations immediately."

With those words said, he turned around and walked away with his soldiers. But he did not sense the traitor in his midst.


	6. Chapter 5: Preparations and Takeoff

Chapter 5: Preparations and Takeoff

Two grunts with orange armor looked on a view screen which had a message saying, "Special Operations, recruits needed. All those who want to apply, come to the main firing range by 1200 hours for tryouts."

The grunts looked over at the clock and rushed over to the firing range, it was almost 2100 hours.

Even though they were nearly nine hours late, there was still a line. "We'll be fine." One grunt said to the other as they got into the line.

Another hour passed as they reached the door to the range. They were the last ones in line. They were told to enter the room. They entered the room and told their names to the officer, who then proceeded to record them. Sounding completely bored, he said, "Please proceed to slots 1 and 2."

The two grunts moved to the slots and noticed that the wall was scorched black with plasma and other weapon marks.

"Alright, let's get you two through." A voice said, and that voice is what made them shiver. The grunts turned around to see their exhausted commander bringing two medium sized cases of familiar weapons to them.

"We can carry those for you." Said the grunts as they tried to take the cases from him, he smiled and placed them by their feet.

"Thank you, now, for the test." He said as he pressed a button, from the ceiling, dropped two life size foam human targets held up by steel ropes, which were followed by three more in each row. He continued, "Okay, this is how the test works: You will fire every weapon three times at the targets, one shot to the head, one to the chest, and one at the rope to drop the target."

The two grunts nodded and began. As they took down the targets, he noted their progress and their accuracy. When they had finished, they put the guns down on the floor and turned to their commander. They saluted, he returned it, and they walked out.

...

When the next day came around, he got up and remembered the next task he had to tend to.

He walked over to the brig on the ship. In the brig, a medical droid sat idle in a corner, while in a cell, was the prisoner. Looking in a small container near the center control switch for the cells, he found the possessions that had been stripped from her.

These possessions included dog tags, a large pistol, and a locket with a picture of her inside it. He pressed a button which lifted the force field in front of her cell. He quickly stepped down and entered her cell.

Her head slowly turned and met eyes and she asked, "Who are you, and why am I your prisoner?"

"I should ask you the same thing, but I have a specific purpose for you. I need to help me repopulate the human race after it is eradicated. As for my name, I am General Meldor." He said, his eyes piercing into her soul.

"You vile being, I will never agree to your wishes!" she said.

He got up and said, "Fine then, you will submit to my will soon enough."

"Wait." She said as he smirked. He was bending her will to his own.

"Yes?" he asked turning back around.

"I have no choice in this matter do I?" she asked.

"I can make arrangements for you to live comfortably within my Knights, if that is what you're asking." He said, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"That would be nice, but I have decided to help you repopulate the Earth, but only if you take me as your wife." She said.

"I can't see why that cannot be arranged, Maria." He said handing her the dog tags that he was holding.

"I still have questions." She said to him, "What is your real name?"

He looked down as he said, "Samuel Chase." For some very strange reason, he felt comfortable around her; even though he could just bend her mind if anything went wrong.

"Samuel Chase, are you the chi-", she asked but was cut off as he slammed the side of his fist into the wall.

"Yes, the poor helpless child who was sent off to die during the Universal Civil War." He said.

She was shocked, "But that war ended over 200 years ago, in 2318, how are you so young after so long?"

"I trained under a leader for 19 years and then I used wormholes to dart around through time. I plan to return to 2319 in order to seek the revenge that I desire." He said walking out.

Maria could not believe what she had heard; her captor has just asked her to repopulate her home world, over 200 years before her birth.

He returned with a uniform for her and said, "Wear this; you will blend in easier with my knights."

Taking it, she said, "You are legendary on Earth, known as the child who could destroy the world, and they weren't lying."

He smiled for the first time since their conversation began and said, "My life could have been better, but that world law had to be put into effect and I destroyed that machine, somewhat of a precursor to what I plan to do."

He took her hand and led her out of the prison cells.

...

Six months had passed and the preparations had been completed. The Dark Army was well over one hundred million soldiers strong as well as having well over one billion war machines.

Maria had been well accepted into the ranks of the Knights, but still received some disproving glances from some of the high ranking elites.

The knights tended to notice that their commander was not like others, he was involved directly with preparations, most commonly working on modifying his personal interceptor and his personal wraith.

But as the date of departure inched closer, he made an announcement:

"The results of the tryouts for the Special Operations branch of the DKA have been posted throughout the fleet. Those who did not make it into the branch, do not be discouraged, for you have been assigned to a secondary branch. This branch will be the members of the strike teams during Operation Blastcap. So, I welcome you to the Hellfire Brigade. Knights of both branches are to come to the armory on your designated cruiser for their new armor."

The Special Operations Knights had the standard black armor, while the Hellfire Brigade got to wear the same black armor, but with red trim and had a torch for an insignia.

...

Days later, General Meldor made an announcement. "My knights, your months of preparation have been difficult, but now we are ready to assault the Earth and eliminate the human race. We leave at dawn, all knights are to rise early and to be secured for slip space travel."

He ended the announcement and entered his chamber. He got ready to go to sleep, but first made sure that all his items were in order. With all his things organized, he went off to sleep.

But unbeknownst to him, there was dissent in the knights, some cruisers charged up their armaments and waited for a signal.


	7. Chapter 6: An Unfortunate Delay

Chapter VI: Unfortunate Delay

The Galgaroth rocked and shook, waking General Meldor from his slumber. Alarms began to go off.

Quickly dressing, he ran down the corridors that were stained with red light. Once he arrived at the bridge, he asked, "What is going on!"

An alarmed officer said, "You are not going to like this, we are under attack from the Blitzkrieg."

Placing Morry's disk into the main terminal, he called the AI which said, "Are we at the Asteroid Belt already?" The ship shook again.

"No, we are under attack by our own men." He said and continued, "I need to contact the Blitzkrieg."

But before Morry could establish communication, the view screen lit up as General Bledimir appeared.

"Bledimir, what the hell do you think you're doing!" He asked clenching his fist.

"General Meldor, some of the generals and I, along with some of the troops, disagree with your plans for Earth." Bledimir said smirking.

"For the last time Bledimir, I will not allow Operation Damnation to proceed. I will not lose Earth to a super laser." He said raising his fist to suffocate him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Bledimir said as two of the other generals dragged Maria up to the view screen. "My generals have direct orders that if you use your powers against me, they will kill her."

"There is more than one way to kill a man." He said lowering his fist. "I will get her back."

"I look forward to your attempt, but in the end, The Renegade Knights of Hell will destroy Earth." Bledimir said as he severed communications.

The ship rocked again, "Alright, return fire, navigators, find a place that we can jump to, preferably a place where we can establish a base of operations. I am not fighting a civil war in space." Meldor said as pulled his hood over his head, he did not want his knights to see their leader as nervous as he was.

"Who is still with us?" he asked.

"Well according to our radar, the ships that are still viewable on our radar are those of the Dark Troopers, Grunts, and Elites." One officer said as the sounds of gunfire pierced his eardrums.

"So we have lost the Jackals, Hunters and Droids." He said as he drew his lightsaber.

"That looks to be the case." Morry said turning back to the view screen, but Meldor did not hear it, for he was already in the bloodstained corridor near the bridge.

...

"Sir, glad you could join us." An elite said as Meldor came charging down the hall slashing through two jackals in the process.

"I couldn't stay out of the fight, but it's a shame that we have to kill our own knights." He said as he fired lightning down the corridor at a rampaging hunter, who fell forward dead.

"Hopefully, none of the other ships will suffer as much death as our own." One elite said as they began to move back to the bridge.

Once back at the bridge, Morry appeared and said, "Sir, we have found another suitable location, but the enemy is bound to follow."

"I don't care, if we can deploy troops, we can have an easier fight." He said as the ship prepared to depart.

When the slip space jump ended, the place he saw astounded him even more than he thought possible. It was another Halo.


	8. Chapter 7: Crash Landing

Chapter 7: Crash Landing

The ship was still in pandemonium, but there was hope. The second halo was only a little further from his grasp, and he knew the renegades were after it as well.

As he turned to the view screen, he saw the renegade cruisers enter the same area as his shambled fleet. "Morry, how long until we can land on that ring?" he asked.

"We will be in range shor-" Morry said as his terminal shut down, as well as the ship's power.

"Damn EMP's!" he yelled as he quickly silenced the panic and demanded his surroundings to remain the same, "I'm going to land this thing on that ring, and I need to be able to concentrate. I need all of you to stand guard around me, I do not want any renegades coming onto this bridge!"

When they were all in position, he said, "I have done this once before, I can do this again."

He began to focus as he felt connected to the giant vessel, though it was difficult for him because the ship was shaking a lot more, now that the shields were down.

Seconds felt like hours and minutes turned into years. As he heard gunfire from right behind him, he guided the beast to the ring world and began to enter its atmosphere.

He hoped the ship would hold together now that the shields were down. He could feel the heat from the entry as he prayed it would hold. "Alright gentlemen, brace yourselves, this is not going to be a smooth landing." He said as the ship made contact with the ground and began to slide.

As the ship came to a stop, he noticed a large lake and made a hasty attempt to prevent the ship from submerging. He barely saved it as the front half began to enter the water.

"Okay gentlemen, we need to move fast, I don't know how long until the ground gives way, all of you run." He said as he began concentrating again.

The men quickly fled and the ship began to sink. Meldor turned around and ran alongside them, closing doors with his force powers to prolong the flow of water and gathered more survivors along the way.

The incline began to take its toll on the soldiers. After a while of running, the ship rocked again, the ship had hit the bottom of the lake. The ship rested at about a forty five degree angle.

"Where are we?" One of his officers asked.

Meldor turned and said, "Right outside the hanger bay." He said as he approached the door, "The majority of the fighters are probably stacked on the walls now." He gestured everyone to stand back as he forced the door open. His thoughts were correct as he repulsed the hazards away.

"Everyone, here is the plan." He said as they filed into the hanger bay, "We are obviously fighting our own brethren right now, but we have a bigger concern. We need to find as many survivors on this ship and we all have to get off this thing together. With all of our men on this ship rallied, we can begin to plan an effective resistance."

He moved over to the edge of the hanger, looked outside at the sky and said, "Looks like we were the only ones hit by the EMP, I guess the renegades think that they can convert all of our troops to their side." Those words seemed to be said mindlessly, all that he could think of was Maria.

It took the rest of that day and all of the night to find the remaining survivors. The survivors counted at 7,130.

"So, how are we going to get off this ship?" one soldier asked as Meldor turned to face the battalion.

"We now need to find strong ropes and/or wires, as well as sturdy pipes or anything that can serve as a rung. We are going to make a strong ladder and we'll climb down out of the hanger bay.

When the ladder was finished, he asked, "How many of you had your weapons turned on when the EMP hit? If yours was, go to the armory and grab any weapon that works. About half of the survivors went off to the armory.

When they came back with working weapons, he said, "Alright, we are leaving. I want the Dark Troopers to watch the ladder and make sure it holds."

As the survivors descended the ladder, the first of the Renegade drop ships began landing below the ship near the ladder. He gestured to the Dark Troopers as they flew off and planted fired their rockets at the cockpits.

When the survivors dropped down from the ladder, they took refuge under the Galgaroth and watched as the drop ships fell like flies.

Meldor was the last to leave. He leapt out of the Galgaroth and landed softly on the ground in a kneeling position. He stood up and stared out into the jungle, a whole new world for him to explore.


	9. Chapter 8: The New World

Chapter VIII: The New World

General Meldor stared out into the jungle and said, "Well, there isn't much we can do right now for the Galgaroth, so let's try to find some shelter."

They went out into the jungle and after a while, they found a place to build up a base. They were standing outside of a collection of ruins, similar in style to those of the Mayans.

"This is perfect." He thought as he gestured for soldiers to begin scouting them out and for some to take up guard posts. When he entered the ruins, he took a position near the top, just enough to see outside, but also with enough cover so that any renegade soldiers would have to look twice to find him.

Right on cue, the Renegade drop ships began landing troops near the ridge that was right below his base. As they began storming up the cliff, they were picked off by the snipers and engaged by the other soldiers.

One sniper asked him, "Sir, the Renegades are landing further to the north, should we follow them?"

Meldor turned to watch the last Renegade soldier die and said, "Yes, we must."

...

On the Blitzkrieg, General Bledimir addressed, over a view screen, his generals and said, "We are going to take this ring world, eliminate the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse, and finally, destroy the Earth. We will prove to the alien races out in the universe that the only way to kill a human is by the hands of another human." He smiled a crooked grin and ended communications.

"Sir," an officer said as he entered the bridge, "We found the location of the index has been found and we are sending troops there now."

"Excellent, send in the battle droids, we need the other ground troops to fight the Knights. Besides, we don't know what's down there, and I am not sending in soldiers that are hard to replace." He said and the officer left.

Bledimir turned back to facing the vast reaches of space and thought, "It was wonderful for General Meldor to describe the functions of these rings, complete destruction for thousands of light years. With the Death Star super laser, I can use these rings to focus the beam while being safely out of range."

...

A little later, the Lambda Class shuttles began landing soldiers and supplies near the ruins. Meldor turned to one of the elites and said, "How is the fleet up there?"

"It's a mess sir; the entire fleet is in turmoil. We were losing ships, but now the enemy has begun to leave, but not because of us." The elite said.

"That means they found something, something that might cause their idea of an apocalypse to actually occur." He said as a bead of sweat began to form.

...

Suddenly, the alarms on the Blitzkrieg began to blare. The same officer from before came running onto the bridge. Catching his breath, he said, "Sir, there are creatures in the cargo hold, and they are not knights!"

Just after he finished that sentence, there was an explosion and hundreds of large tick-like parasites stormed onto the bridge. "What are you waiting for, kill the damn things!" Bledimir screamed as he drew two plasma pistols and began to shoot the parasites.

When he thought they were all dead, one leapt onto the officer's neck and dug its tentacles into him. Bledimir could only watch in horror as the officer mutated into a hideous, zombie-like creature. Bledimir shot it and flinched. He knew the whole ship was full of them now.

"How did they get here?" he asked himself as the answer came to him, they were brought with the cargo, undetected because the droids were not able to be consumed as well as not being able to even to react to their presence. All he knew for certain was that these parasites only consumed organic sentient beings.

...

Back on the halo, a Lambda shuttle crashed into the ruins. "What in the-!", Meldor said as the shuttle opened up and the same creatures from the Blitzkrieg began to pour out.

Meldor activated his lightsaber and painfully watched one of his elites turn into one of them. He ran back into the ruins and gathered as many of his survivors as he could. "We need to get to the Galgaroth now!" He said as they fled to the ship, fighting through many of the creatures on the way there.

"We have to stop these things." He said as he began escorting people up the ladder. Soon, the surviving transports began to leave with survivors as well.

He used his force powers to move an undamaged transport and ushered the survivors into it, "Go and join Requiem, wait for me there." He said turning to an intercept.

"Sir, where are you going?" An elite asked concernedly.

"Where do you think I'm going? I'm chasing the Blitzkrieg, and I'm not endangering any of you! For all we know, they are transporting those freaks to Earth! I also have some personal business to attend to." Meldor said as he walked over to an undamaged intercept. He got in and left following the transport.

He set his coordinates for the last known location of the Blitzkrieg and was surprised that it hadn't left. He knew they were there. "General Bledimir, you have defied your leader, have abducted his bride, and released a possible epidemic unto the universe. I have to destroy these rings, but my ship is going to go down with it." He thought to himself as he began his journey towards the body of the Renegades.


	10. Chapter 9: The Blitzkrieg

Chapter IX: The Blitzkrieg

As he inched closer to the ship, he worried more and more for Maria's safety. The Blitzkrieg was not looking to good either; it looked like a husk or a shell of what it once was. There also seemed to be a dust-like cloud emanating from the massive ship.

But that thought was soon disrupted as the turrets began to fire on him. He dodged laser blasts until they began to close in on him. He began to take hits as he inched closer and closer to the hanger. Just then, a missile turret locked onto him. Sensing the impending danger, he gunned his engines, and crash landed in the hanger bay.

He jumped out of his severely damaged interceptor and looked around. "I didn't think it would be this bad." He said as he began to cough from the dust. He tore of the clasps from his cloak, as well as a big strip. He fastened a veil around his mouth and nose and then to the back of his robes. He hoped that it would give him enough breathing room until he found Maria.

He rummaged around in his interceptor and grabbed the weapons he packed. He holstered two pistols, threw an assault rifle and a shotgun over his shoulder, and then checked his lightsaber and shields. Giving one last glance towards his interceptor, he said, "Maria, I am getting you out of here, even if I die in the process." He walked to the bay door and entered the first of many corridors.

...

General Bledimir was still on the bridge, confident that the situation would soon be resolved; he had ordered his men to converge on the Blitzkrieg. He was going to remove the infestation as well as the leader of the Knights who had just arrived on the ship.

But the constant screams of terror from the various posts around the ship were beginning to swell up an uneasy feeling in him. He had had his bridge fortified and the doors were holding well, despite the sounds of hissing and scratching outside.

Maria continued to struggle to escape, but knew that it would lead to her death by her captor, or by the hands of the infestation. But the words of the tired general had brought her hope; she now knew that the man she thought would just use her was actually risking his life to save her, though the thought of him being on a revenge mission was also very high on her list of theories.

...

Meldor heard sounds coming from the next hallway that he was running through. "My first guests have arrived." He said with a sinister smile creasing his lips.

The first of many zombie-like creatures began to charge at him. He grabbed his shotgun and pushed through the horde. The little infectors would just pop on his shields.

Then, he heard sounds that scared him: Gunfire. He cautiously walked over to the sound of the noise and his worst fears came to light. One of the creatures looked up from the ground and mindlessly began to fire its plasma pistol at him.

He leapt to the side as he truly saw what was occurring. There were renegades fighting against the creatures, which were falling like flies.

He charged through the enemies and gunned down all that he could. When his shotgun ran out of ammunition, he tossed into a corner and continued on his way.

After a while of running and gunning, he reached the bridge and began to think about how to breach it. He ran down the hall a bit further and was happy to find an armory. He grabbed as many explosives as he could carry and planted them on the door. With a rocket launcher, he blasted the door open, much to the horror of the commanders.

He snuck in and took off one of his undamaged shield generators and fastened one of the Jackal shields to himself. He ran in and tossed the shield generator to Maria, who quickly attached it to her waist and activated it.

Meldor activated his lightsaber and slayed all the generals as they tried to shoot Maria, except for Bledimir. He turned to him with a sadistic grin on his face as he raised his fist.

Bledimir felt all the air rush out of his lungs, but the air was not coming back. He struggled to breathe but he couldn't.

Meldor said to him, "This for all the pain you've put me through. For you, this pain will be quick." He pulled the general closer to him.

The last thing the general felt was the unbearably painful stab that punched through his chest and he fell onto the floor with a thud.

Maria had not spoken the entire time, she was in too much shock to say anything, but finally, words came to her. "Why? Why did you save me?" She asked

He turned around and walked over to her and cut her free from the ropes she was bound with. His eyes met hers and he said, "Because I love you. This is a feeling that is new to me, a feeling that I cannot truly express, and a feeling that is changing me."

"So you are not just using me to repopulate the Earth?" she asked taking his hand as tears began to form in his eyes.

"No," he said, "I have never felt loved before, I have never been close to someone who even cared about me, but we can't talk about this now; we have to get the hell out of here." He helped her to her feet and handed her his pistols and drew his assault rifle.

"How are we going to get out of here?" she asked.

"There is a transport in the hanger bay, we are going to take it out and back to the Dyoga, because the Galgaroth was shot down." He said adding the last part in case she had not heard the news.

"There will be opposition." She said, "I heard from Bledimir, they are coming to deal with the infestation."

"Alright." He said as he checked himself for any problems. He found that he had only had one working shield generator and his arm shield left.

They both left the bridge and walked out and the fighting immediately began.

They fought their way past the creatures, as well as renegades. When they reached the hanger bay, the real fighting began. Pushing through the hordes, they reached the transport and he said, "Get on the transport; I'll join you in a second."

She could only gasp as a Jackal shorted out his last shield generator. She fired her last round into it and it fell down dead.

He hurried up to the transport and the second worst thing that could happen occurred. An infector latched itself to his arm. He had to act fast or he would become one of them.

He drew his lightsaber and activated it. "Samuel, you can't be thinking of it!" she pleaded with him.

"I have to." He said as he sliced off his left arm and tears welled up in his eyes as it fell to the ground. He quickly pulled himself into the transport.


	11. Chapter 10: Arrival at Earth

Chapter X: Arrival at Earth

The pain was excruciating and his body language showed it. "Samuel…" but that was all Maria could say.

He stood up and limped over to the control panel and closed the doors. He then said, painfully, "We need to get out of here; I can help you to understand how to fly this thing."

She just nodded. He took her hand and guided it through the controls, and within minutes, they were flying out of the hanger. They soon arrived at the Dyoga and Meldor was immediately rushed to the medical wing.

Maria, who was nearly in tears at this point, tried to chase him, but a gently stopped by General Demay, who said, "Maria, do not worry, these kinds of things happen, our medics know what to do."

That answer did not calm her down any more, but she instead walked over to a banshee fighter and sat down on the wing tip. General Demay then concluded that she wanted to be alone and walked back to his post.

She could not believe what was happening, it was all a blur. Only hours before, she was in the hands of the renegades and now, the only one that seemed to love her was in dire condition.

...

The next morning, she found him in the hospital wing with a medical droid next to him. She walked up to him and the droid glared at her with its red eye. "No visitors at this time." It said with a monotone voice.

"I'll allow it." Meldor said with a smile as he used his right hand to pull a chair over to his right side. She sat down immediately

The droid turned to the new mechanical bits and pieces that were protruding from his left shoulder and poked every tip of the fingers to make sure they reacted. "Everything looks to be in order, now we need to see if the blaster works." It said as Meldor pushed a button next to the wrist. With that push, two small blasters appeared out of it, and the droid rolled away to the other room.

Finally moving the limb on his own, he punched forward at the air and a blade the size of his new hand shot out. He turned to Maria and said, "I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold weapons right, so my arm is a weapon."

She nodded as the droid returned with a plastic case for the arm that was his exact skin tone in color. The case was then applied to his arm and, in minutes, it looked like his arm had never been severed, but there was a small red button for the blasters.

...

The next couple of day seemed like weeks. "General Demay, what is our current status?" He asked.

"The Renegades have rejoined the Knights and their generals have been executed." Demay said as they walked to the bridge.

"Has the Blitzkrieg been moved onto the ring?" He asked.

"Yes sir, the Blitzkrieg as well as the halos have been destroyed as of 0427 hours this morning." He said as they arrived.

"Excellent." He said as he looked at the wreckage of the second halo.

"What are the plans now?" He asked him.

"I have some personal things that I must attend to, but in about two days, we will attack Earth. I also want the knights to be formed up in Hanger A with the cameras connected to every ship in the fleet." He said as he turned and left as fast as he had entered the bridge.

...

"Where are you bringing me?" She asked as he escorted her to the hanger.

"You wanted to be married." He said.

Her eyes began to form tears as the hanger bay doors opened and she saw the entire congregation of knights giving them a standing ovation. They walked together up to the table and she saw two rings, a piece of paper, and 2 wreaths of 5 stars

"Now, Maria," he said, now standing at the podium, "Will you be my wife?"

With tears of joy, she nodded.

"Then, join me, as my queen." He said stepping down to join her at the table.

Now whispering to her, "I tried my hardest, with all the resources at my disposal, to make this as close to a wedding as possible. So we both need to sign this treaty and then we can put the rings on."

She smiled, at a loss for words, and they both signed it. He placed her ring on her finger, and she did the same for him. He grabbed the wreath of stars and said, "I am now promoting you to the rank of general."

He smiled at her, and before they knew it, they were kissing each other passionately. They left the hanger, hand in hand, as the entire congregation applauded for them again.

...

"Have you ever gazed up at the stars back on Earth?" He asked her as they both stared out into space, the entirety of the walls and ceiling were windows that looked out into space. The hull coverings had been temporarily retracted for their viewing pleasure.

"Yes, and before I joined the marines, I wanted to be an astronomer." She said staring up into space, "What time is it?"

He sat up and looked to his side and said, "3:24 AM. We should try to get some sleep, we have preparations to make."

She nodded and fell back down and fell asleep.

...

When he awoke the next morning, he found her sitting up, waiting for him and said, "Samuel, I'm pregnant."

"That's wonderful!" He said as he embraced her, thinking of the son that would begin the new population.

She continued, "I'm not going to war with Earth."

"Smart decision, we need to protect the child." He said as he kissed her softly.

"Yes, for the child." She said with a slight smile. He somehow could not understand that she was refusing to gun down and kill other members of her species, but what could she expect from someone who was raised in such an environment?

...

"What is our status?" He asked General Demay as he entered the bridge.

"Sir, our fleet is operational, the wormhole to 2319 is prepared, and the knights are eager to depart." Demay said turning to the main screen.

"We are leaving tonight, I want to be somewhat outside the range of their radar, with enough distance to hide the fleet, but close enough that Earth is within our sites. You, General Roberts and General Nardini are going to command your armies from the flagships, if I am to die out there, you will gain full command of the DKA" He said turning to leave.

General Demay nodded and began to make his preparations. Maria was waiting for him outside. "When is the fleet departing?" she asked.

"Tonight, we will be at Earth by dawn tomorrow." He said. She embraced him and he left to prepare.

...

His ship was ready, his tank was ready, he was armed to the teeth, his lightsaber and shield generators were ready, but he felt as though he was forgetting something.

Maria waited for him at the bridge, "Are we ready to go?" she asked as he arrived.

"Yes, my love, after I make an announcement." He said as the main view screen activated.

"My knights, we are finally prepared to leave, we are going to Earth shortly. But, we have to discuss the plan of action first. We are going through the wormhole to 2319 and we will arrive by dawn of October 17th. We are going to park the fleet just outside of Earth's radar and then I want the Hellfire Brigade to form up at their designated transports. When I give the order, the fleet will charge through to Earth, with the flagships in the middle. We will have the main destroyers on the sides as they will be taking out their military defenses. This will ensure a straight shot to Earth, where the Hellfire Brigade will deploy and the rest of the Dark Army will begin to form up. Earth will get a nice wakeup call tomorrow, Meldor out." He said as the view screen deactivated. His message was received with an encore of cheers from throughout the ship.

With everything ready, they moved to their positions and the fleet followed the Galgaroth through the wormhole.


	12. Chapter 11: Operation Blastcap

Chapter XI: Operation Blastcap

"Welcome to 2319 my lord. We should be ready to attack on your orders in about two hours. We know what we're fighting." General Demay said as the massive fleet came to a slow stop.

"Excellent, but they're armed to the teeth, prepare for resistance." He said, though the next two hours would feel like two decades, but the time finally came.

"We will leave soon; I just have to send a message to the knights." He said as he began communications with the rest of the fleet.

"This is it." He said as a maniacal grin creased his lips, "This is our moment, fire up your engines and load your weapons. When I give the signal, we will charge towards Earth. But before I forget, the destroyers need to target the other planets because they are either missile silos or colonies."

He continued to smile as he punched forward at the air with his left arm and the Galgaroth shot forward. The fleet began to follow as he laughed for all the bridge to hear.

...

"Nothing." A sleepy private of the UWE Air Force said as he watched the sonar screens for activity. Then, he saw the small dot that acted like a stimulant.

He stood up and called his commander over and said, "We have a warship."

But his sentence slowly died out as he said it. That dot turned into a column of white that began moving straight towards Earth. Pluto fired its missiles but was quickly destroyed alongside Neptune.

"Dear God." The commander said as they all watched in horror. The alarms were already blaring.

"What do we do?" The private asked as the commander grabbed his radio.

"Send all forces to the outer solar system now!" he yelled as the ships began to leave.

The UWE used technology that seemed archaic in comparison to the standards of the time. That was what won the war for them, their enemy never caught on that their fighters was more powerful, they were just hidden in the bodies of "archaic" aircraft.

"There goes Uranus, and Saturn. The asteroid belt should slow them down." The commander said as his face lost all of its color

...

Meldor's smile became even eviler as the UWE Air Force came charging through to the asteroid belt. "Finally, a challenge, though I doubt they will last long." He said as he watched the last gas giant erupted into a ball of fire and dissipate.

"Sir, we are ready to enter the asteroid belt." General Demay said as the fleet slowed down slightly.

"Okay, we are going to fire missiles and blast our way through, and on the other side, as our scanners have told us, the UWE will be waiting. They are most likely defending Mars at this point, now that their outer solar system is completely gone and they have no defenses left, except their army and this asteroid belt." He said smiling.

"Very well, prepare to fire missiles!" Demay said to the crew in the torpedo bays.

Within seconds, volleys of missiles began to carve a hole through the belt. After a few minutes, the enemy fleet entered their range. "Alright, let's get through that gap in pillar formation." He said as the flagships moved to the back of the formation.

In rows of twenty, the fleet advanced through the gap and began to siege the UWE fleet. The UWE watched in terrified awe as the massive fleet advancing. Within minutes, the UWE Fleet was beginning to pull back, "We can't possibly defeat an army that large!" A navigator said as their cruiser exploded.

On their main flagship, the commander said, "This is it, there is no way in Hell that we can beat them in space, we must return to Earth, and perhaps they will show some mercy to Mars."

He turned around with tears in his eyes as Mars exploded from a missile volley, hundreds of millions of people just lost their lives.

...

"The day is ours, well done gentlemen." General Demay said as the UWE Fleet retreated.

"Be careful general, they may have retreated, but the day is hardly ours. They are fortifying Earth, it may be more difficult to breach their atmosphere. Hack into their communication satellites, we need to distract them while the Hellfire Brigade gets into position. Give me a signal when the brigade is in position." Meldor said as he turned to the view screen.

General Demay turned to a comlink and said, "Hellfire Brigade, board your transports, you are deploying."

The communications were hacked and Meldor's face appeared on every screen in the world. His composure was very serious, he smiled a crooked grin as he said, "Greetings human scum. Most of you do not know who I am, so I'll fill you in. I am Samuel Chase, I was sent away from your pitiful planet as an infant nineteen years ago. The reason? I was and still am the most intelligent human being in the universe. I am back for revenge and I am dragging you all to Hell. Mars is already destroyed, now you all get to see the true power of the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse!" General Demay gave him the signal and he advanced the fleet to surround Earth.

"This is merely a fourth of my current army, prepare for the end, in three, two, one, GO!" He said as every capitol in the world was bombed in unison. He laughed maniacally and severed communications.

He left for the hanger bay after he kissed his wife goodbye, he had his fighter prepared, his tank was loaded, and his mind was prepared for anything. He activated his fighter and waited for the signal to take off.


	13. Chapter 12: Operation Shootout

Chapter 12: Operation Shootout

"Rebecca, we have to leave for our bunker!" Morgan Chase said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I cannot believe that my only son is doing this." She said in between sobs.

"I know, it hurts, but he was not born that way, the government was to blame, they did this, and we are the unfortunate victims of their error." He said.

She stood up and grabbed her bag and followed him to the car and they departed for the bunker.

As they entered the bunker, Rebecca asked, "I wonder if he will still recognize us?"

"I don't know." Morgan said.

...

From his interceptor, he gave the next orders to the fleet, "Begin destroying their anti-aircraft weapons."

He continued to follow the transports as they followed through the window that was opened for them. The human fleet was still fighting, but not doing very well.

"I hope the shielding works." He said as he entered the Earth's atmosphere, the blue background soon became white as he reached the south pole of the planet.

After he landed, he got out of his interceptor and began to survey the barren landscape.

Once he joined the brigade, he began his speech to them, "My knights, welcome to Earth. More of our army is still coming and will need to hear this as well." He gestured to General Roberts before turning back to his men to continue.

"Each commander has a platoon of soldiers and a bunker, you are to attack your designated bunker, and once it has been cleared out, signal to the transports and your rations and other supplies will be delivered. Until the main objectives of Operation Fallout are completed, you are to seal yourselves in the bunkers for your own protection. I will give the green light on when we can proceed, but you will all still have to wear gas masks." He said, unable to hide the fact that he was shivering just as badly as every other soldier he was speaking to. The heaters were at least keeping them alive.

"Alright, all commanders have been given a disk and fusion cutters. The disk contains a worm that resets the codes to unlock the bunkers, essentially, enter your own, but remember it. If the worm fails for you, use the fusion cutters to break into the bunker. Earth is in a state of total panic right now, and their guard is up, our first task is to destroy their anti-air turrets and their communication relays. Then the bunkers are ours for the taking. DEATH OR VICTORY!" He finished his speech as he was rewarded with the yells that were heard around the world.

The smaller transports began to land as well as weapon caches. He suited up with weaponry and ammo clips, he was going in heavy.

Walking over to one of the platoons, he said, "You are going to the bunker of their main commanders?"

The elite nodded.

"Good, I'm coming with you." He said with a smile on his face. He escorted them to the first transport that arrived.

After they lifted off, he asked, "Where is the bunker?" He was unsure of the location due to the fact that there were over forty five million bunkers in the world.

"New York City, one of eighteen thousand." The platoon leader said as he looked down at the floor.

"And we will have a lot of that area cleared out by then. Tanks and fighters have already deployed and their anti-aircraft turrets are being disabled as we speak. The Hellfire Brigade should be dealing with their communications and beginning their assault." He said with a little uncertainty in his words.

"Sir is everything okay?" an elite asked.

"I was born here; this is where everything happened nineteen years ago." He said looking out the side view and he pointed to a building, "And there is the apartment that I lived at." He had a tear in his eye.

They soon landed and his tears turned to rage. He leapt off the transport and smiled. "Go!" he yelled as he charged into the panicked masses, soon followed by his soldiers.

As other platoons arrived, he noticed something coming from the rear, and a loud roar that followed. "Get down!" he yelled as the UWE Army began storming in.

"Focus on the soldiers; we can take down the civilians in the bunkers." He said as his signaled where to send fire.

He activated the blaster in his left arm and began to fire, but then he saw it being transported by enemy dropships. For the first time, he was actually scared for his knights. "Are they crazy, or just stupid? Everyone charge for the bunker, they have ALMs!" He said as the other knights gave the same expression.

"They must think that everyone is already in the bunkers." A platoon leader said as they ran to the bunker entrance.

He had barely gotten his knights into the entrance and sealed it before the mines fell.

"Thankfully, we were the only ship on the ground at the time, the others got away in time." He said breathing a forced sigh of relief as the ground shook violently.

"Okay, let's find our bunker." He said as he gathered his knights.

They nodded and followed him to an elevator, the fastest type in the universe. "Bunker 16071 on level 160." He said as they descended to the floor.

When they got there, he set the worm loose and the bunker opened up, "Now, there are going to be soldiers in there, have your guns in hand." He said as they stepped into the dim lights.

As soldiers and people popped up, they were shot and fell down just as quickly.

Then, a female, motherly voice spoke up, "Samuel, my baby." Rebecca had tears in her eyes.

"Your father and I know what they did to you, and they were wrong, we have missed you all of these years. We lo—".

Her sentence was cut short as they fell to the ground, their son watched with emotionless eyes as he lowered his rifle.

When the bunker was cleared out, they received their supplies and began to relax while the other bunkers met the same fate. The sealed themselves in. Within the week, Operation Fallout would begin.


	14. Chapter 13: Operation Fallout

Chapter 13: Operation Fallout

As the signal lights began to turn on, his smirk continued to grow. The bodies were moved to the war torn surface and piled up, with the occasional fresh body that succumbed to radiation poison.

He knew that he was not supposed to feel sympathy for the humans, but a slight feeling of remorse began to sting him. He dragged the bodies of his parents to another location and burned them on a makeshift funeral pyre.

Upon his return to the bunker, he said, "Move the fleet back and pull the tanks back to Antarctica. We will give them a moment's reprieve before we initiate Operation Fallout."

"But sir, some of the bunkers have not been taken, should we wait for the other platoons?" a Dark Trooper asked looking at the signal light board.

"That is true, but I have plans for those bunkers. They contain the main army leaders for the UWE. I want them to see all hope fade from their hearts and all life drain from their eyes. I want them to watch their world fall. I want them to know the consequences of their actions." He said clenching his fist.

Once the movements had been completed, he briefed his soldiers on the details of the Operation Fallout and sent the message to the other bunkers:

"Alright knights, we had a bit of a slow start, I did not know that they were willing to drop atomic land mines in their own cities, but now for current matters. As you all know, when coal reserves ran out, the humans needed a better source of energy. They found the answer just in time. There was uranium in the asteroid belt, and that opened up an entirely new field of business, the Space Trade.

When they found the uranium, they converted all coal plants to nuclear, and uranium tends to explode when exposed to a lot of heat, which is usually prevented with the uranium being placed in tanks of cold water. At this time, the plants have been shut down long enough that they are ready to explode. We are essentially going to glass over Earth, and we will use those plants for fuel. Almost every city has one, and we have enough equipment to turn the world into a nuclear wasteland. During the chaos, we will be taking on those other bunkers.

That is all, knights, but knows this, they rigged their world to explode, and we're just pulling the pin. Death or victory!"

"Death or victory!" the soldiers resounded through the bunker.

...

The main general of the UWE was not convinced that the fight was over. He admitted to himself that all hope was close to being lost, but the UWE would triumph.

"Samuel Chase, where are you going? The UWE will stand strong, we will defeat you." He said as he looked to the radar.

It looked as if the ships were leaving, but he knew better. But what he thought could happen was worse than he could have imagined.

...

Samuel Chase continued to speak to the knights, "Alright, there will be some rumbling and shaking. We are going to attack every nuclear power plant at once. Dyoga, Defender, Arminda, Descent to Chaos, and Outrage, prepare your missiles and deploy your bombers."

Within minutes, the bombers were deploying and the missiles were ready. He smiled as the rumbling began. The plants exploded with fiery rage and the ashes began to swirl into the air. The winds carried the ashes far and wide as the infernos soon followed.

For weeks, the world burned and there was not a trace of green left in nature. After the fires began to lose their strength, the ashes continued to fall; a nuclear winter began to cool the Earth.

...

As the weeks of destruction persisted, the general began to plan out the end of the empire, he was ready to fall. He knew the human race was doomed, but he was going to die fighting.

Know that Samuel Chase was going to raid his bunker, he was prepared to ambush him, kill him, and weaken his army, though all signs pointed to failure.

"Don't worry General Chase; I will give you a fight." He said smirking as he awaited his arrival.


	15. Chapter 14: Never Again

Chapter XIV: Never Again

"For weeks, the world has burned." Samuel Chase said to the congregation on the other side of the communication screen,

"Now, we prepare for Operation Nightmare. The solar cruisers are on the way here from home and will be here in a matter of hours. We will regroup outside, but wait until your suits arrive, for we do not want radiation sickness affecting any of you."

He ended the message and awaited the arrival of the suits. The elites received standard ranger armor, which was armor that their space troopers wore. Samuel Chase, on the other hand, requested dark trooper armor which would easily seal out the radiation. He decided to wear it over his sith robes.

As they emerged, the true extent of the destruction came to light. There was nothing, only the ruins of the former society remained, and for the first time in weeks, there was silence. The only sound that was heard was that of the winds that carried death and ruin across the now barren world.

It was almost surreal, he felt like he was asleep, that this wasn't happening, his goals were succeeding. He stared into the ruins in silence, no elites spoke, none of his soldiers made any movements.

After a few minutes, which felt like hours, they began their trek to the landing zone. Their advance was soon followed by thousands of other soldiers.

...

After a few hours of preparation, he turned to his personal guards and said, "We are going to assault the main bunker of the last remaining generals of the UWE. This mission is going to be difficult and some of you may die. We have had remarkably minimal casualties so far, but knowing the concentration of soldiers in that bunker, we are not taking any chances."

As they boarded the transport, he said one more thing to them, "Death or victory!"

The same three words resounded throughout the transport as it left for the bunker.

...

Upon their arrival at the bunker, located under the former Great Plains of the United States, the same eerie silence dominated the area.

Taking no time, he crept up to the rock face that housed the bunker. His elites soon followed his lead and they went with him into the bunker. They decided to cloak themselves, to add an element of surprise if they needed it.

After a few assassinations, they were surprised by the lack of soldiers, which meant that they were all guarding the main general of the UWE, in the main room of the bunker.

They approached the main room and General Meldor decided to sneak in first. As he entered, the worst happened.

The general was waiting with his soldiers, but not where Meldor thought he would be. The general saw the distortion that active camouflage showed. With little warning, he fired a shot that penetrated the helmet that he wore and lodged into his skull.

Time seemed to slow as he felt the pain, but was somehow still alive. He fell to his knees and gave one final telepathic message to his elites and the entire army as his active camouflage faded away, "Finish them off!"

The general fired one last shot into the back of his head and he fell forward onto the floor in a pool of his own blood. Ripples of darkness were felt as the soul of Samuel Chase dissolved into thin air.

"We did it." The general said as a roar louder than a bomb, followed by a quieter hiss, came to their ears. The elites revealed themselves and charged with their plasma swords blazing.

The elites looked around at all the bodies and smiled, "Look at all this death!" one said. But their joy soon turned to sorrow as a second elite said, "All but one death." He removed his helmet. The other elites did the same.

The elites called a transport with two words that caused the knights to lose their emotionless composure, "One casualty." Two elites picked up the limp body of their former leader and began moving back to the transport; only the sound of the engines filled the air. Only two squads went up with the body.

Back on the ground, one elite looked down and saw the lightsaber and said, "They forgot this." He said clipping it on his grenade belt. The other transports would pick them up after Operation Nightmare was completed and the evidence of the extinction of the human race was undeniable.

The silence continued as the transport entered the hanger bay of the Galgaroth. His wife stood at the head of the formation with the other generals arriving. She fell into General Demay's arms sobbing as his body was carried down from the transport, his armor had been removed and his was cloak covering his head as a sign of respect.

Never again would the world suffer at the hands of a military genius. Never again would the human race become extinct. Never again would the bombs fall or the sounds of gunfire be heard. Never again would an army destroy the world. Never again would Samuel Chase march along and lead his knights.


	16. Chapter 15: Operation Nightmare

Chapter XV: Operation Nightmare

She could not believe it, all things seemed to happen at once. Her husband was dead, though the circumstances of their relationship were unconventional, she could not believe what she saw. She continued to dig her face into General Demay's shoulder as she thought this; tears flowed out of her eyes like a waterfall.

For all she knew, her world had ended, but she felt the worst feelings for their unborn child, the child who would never meet their father. "This is it; I am forever now alone, what did I do to deserve this?" She said as she lifted her head off of his shoulder. Samuel's body had already been hauled off to the morgue.

"No Maria, you are not, you still have the knights, we are not going to simply abandon you, and you are still one of us." General Demay said as he helped guide her out of the hanger bay.

...

That evening, General Demay spoke in front of the entire army; his eyes filled with tears, and said, "I am here tonight to bring unfortunate words to those who have not yet heard. On this day, General Meldor was killed; first, I would request a moment of silence on his behalf."

He placed his military cap over his hear and bowed his head. After the longest moment in history was over, he continued:

"General Meldor left me a letter before he deployed which states: 'When I began Operation Apocalypse, I planned to be on the front lines of the operation. Knowing the risks, I wish to appoint General Demay as my successor and to become the leader of the Dark Knights of Apocalypse if any harm was to come to me.' This unfortunate tragedy will not be a reason for retreating, though some of his decisions conflict with my own ideals, I am agreeing to continue Operation Apocalypse. Now, let us cheer our fallen commander into the afterlife, after me, death or victory!"

The resounding cry could have been heard all the way across the solar system, as the knights prepared for the final segment of Operation Apocalypse.

...

On the same night, the solar cruisers arrived, led by the DKA Night Flare. "Sir, we are ready to deploy, Night Quake, Night Wave, and Night Strike and I are prepared to make the general template around the Earth. We will then place the solar ships in perfect synchronization with the Earth's orbit. With our ships in position, we will starve the Earth of solar energy for as long as it takes to recharge the solar generators in the fleet, which looks to be about a month or so." The commander said.

"Very well, so be it." General Demay said, trying to maintain the demeanor that his new position required.

So they did it, for the next month, the Earth did not receive one ounce of solar energy, the plants that survived, were soon killed and Earth was then the barren wasteland that their former leader had intended. If only he could have seen the shining faces of his knights, the soldiers he motivated to action.

...

When they felt ready, they departed through the wormhole to the current year that they came from. A world was in ruins, and only one hundred thousand knights had died. It would have been higher, if they did not have the charismatic leader that was General Meldor.

But they did not foresee the one hundred million lucky survivors of Operation Apocalypse.

After they returned to the present, life for the knights returned to normal, a rebellion ended and a super soldier project was permanently canceled, but there were still some things that needed to be addressed.


	17. Chapter 16: Funerals and Baptisms

Chapter XVI: Funerals and Baptisms

Upon returning to 2552, there was a service held for the fallen knights and their leader at a mausoleum built specifically for the knights of Operation Apocalypse.

General Demay, with General Roberts to his right, and General Nardini at his left, began the service:

"For the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse, our goal was the destruction of the human population on Earth, which went without a hitch, but this does not mean that everything was perfect. We are here at this mausoleum to remember the dead, and the man who brought us this glorious victory." He said looking to see if Maria was behind him on stage, which to his surprise she was not there.

He turned his head back to the brigade and continued, "Each cell on the walls around you all contain a knight who gave up their life to ensure our victory except for one. General Meldor has chosen to be preserved for all eternity to make sure the memory of his rule lives on and that no one forgets Operation Apocalypse."

As he finished the sentence, the body of General Meldor rose from an elevator under the floor. He looked as though he was asleep, and his head wound had been mended. His arms were crossed on his chest and in his hands; he clutched the Dark Cross, the highest military award in the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse. He was wearing his sith robes.

Demay called for their attention and said, "Knights, to honor the fallen, let us say the battle hymn of the DKA:

We're damned after all, through fortune and fame we fall. If you choose to obey, then we'll show you the way to enter the darkness he calls. We all carry on, when our soldiers in arms are gone. So raise your swords high, for tomorrow we die, to return to the darkness he calls."

With those words said, the brigade departed from the mausoleum.

...

She could not contain it anymore; she sat on their bed and sobbed. Why she chose to follow him was a mystery to her. She stopped suddenly as General Demay knocked on her door and said, "General Meldor specifically requested that this be presented to you if he should die."

He handed an envelope and a slender, wooden box to her and left without another word.

She opened the envelope and found a letter from him which read:

"Maria,

I completely understand if you hate me, our relationship was not one based off of love, but of circumstance. I am sorry, for my actions were not appropriate. I have been nowhere except in the delusional fantasy of the end of the human race and I never thought of your feelings towards my ideals, but you will be the mother of the first child of the perfect human race.

I do have specific wishes for our child:

1. If he has force powers, then I want him to be trained under the ways of the sith.

2. When he turns fifteen years old, he will become the ruler of the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse.

3. Finally, I want him to have military training.

I also want to present him with the weapon that got me through the fights, through the ages, and gained me an empire of which none other can compare.

Though these feelings are new to me, I love you.

Signed,

Lord General Meldor"

She put the letter down and opened the box to find his lightsaber. Her tears began to flow again, but this time, they were with happiness.

...

"You're doing good, keep it up!" the EW-3 midwife droid said in a soothing tone as the baby entered the world. It cried and Maria smiled. The droid carefully lifted the baby up and onto a heated cushion on its torso.

"Congratulations Maria, you have a boy, I need to check his heart rate and other health details." It said as she nodded, exhaustedly. It nodded as well and hovered away to inspect the baby.

A short while later, the droid returned with the baby, who was now quietly sleeping in the droid's arms and wrapped up in a blanket. The droid passed the baby off to Maria, who woke up in her arms. She noticed the green eyes that his father had.

"He's beautiful." said General Demay as he looked at the child who was still staring at his mother.

"I know, he looks so much like his father." She said turning her head to face him.

"He is also going to be a great ruler." Demay said.

"Yes, he told me, in that letter." She said turning her head back to the baby who had fallen asleep again.

"Have you decided on a name?" Demay asked.

"Yes." She said smiling.


	18. Epilogue: A Few Moments Left

Epilogue: A Few Moments Left

So that concludes the story of Samuel Chase and the Dark Knights of the Apocalypse. The more I tell this story, the more I remember it.

It's been over two hundred years since the apocalypse and much of the Earth is still irradiated. But this is my fifteenth pilgrimage back to Earth. I don't have that much time left before my transport arrives.

Then my ears pick up a short hum as a sentinel hovers over to where I am sitting. He named it "Scout".

"Still talking to ourselves?" He asks as he walks onto the same floor as me.

"I see someone is still listening to it." I say smiling.

"Someone has to, but I am actually here to inform you that the transport is here to pick us up." He said as Scout hovers out of a hole in the roof. He dashes out of the building to chase it.

My son, Brandon Samuel Chase, definitely inherited his father's intelligence. Though not the same warrior that he was. Brandon became the best sniper of the DKA at fifteen years of age, which I attribute to his force powers.

After giving the Jackals a run for their money, he decided to study programming, which helped him to reprogram two sentinels and a sentinel enforcer.

To this day, he still carries that lightsaber, the symbol of his father's legacy. He rarely uses it, but it suits him.

A few moments later, he returns and says, "Mom, are you coming, the transport is here, and you know how impatient the pilots are."

I stand up and follow him. "Yes, my liege." I say jokingly, with a slight smirk creasing my lips.

THE END

Author's Note: Yes, this is the end of SCDKA. I do plan to update this story someday. There are things that I know I need to fix, and there are things that make no sense to anybody but myself. I plan to make some chapters longer, some shorter, and possibly add to this story. But for now, I am going to work on the overdue revision of my fantasy novella, The Legend of Meldor, which is located on my deviantART account. Which I have a link to on my profile as my homepage.


End file.
